Deposed chairman heads to court

The ongoing dispute within the Mashonaland Cricket Association (MCA) looks set to end up in court after Tawengwa Mukuhlani, the deposed chairman, and three other sacked board members told a local newspaper that they were taking legal action action to try to overturn their dismissals.

The four were sacked during a heated special general meeting just before Christmas after members accused them of not taking a firm stand against the running of Zimbabwe Cricket. Now Mukuhlani is claiming the meeting was unconstitutional. "The board did not agree on the meeting," he told the Zimbabwe Independent. "We just decided that since clubs had said they wanted to go ahead with the meeting, we did not want to be a stumbling block ... we had agreed to set the agenda for the meeting which was to discuss the change of logo and name. We were very surprised that people did not stick to the agenda item."

Mukuhlani said that the new board had fuelled the dispute with ZC, choosing confrontation ahead of negotiation. "Before the dispute broke out ZC approached MCA to discuss several issues affecting cricket. MCA agreed to discuss everything apart from the re-branding, and indication that they were rearing for a fight."

The legal maneuvering was dismissed by Cyprian Mangenge, the new MCA chairman, who said that the constitution had been adhered to.

It is believed that Mukuhlani was recently told in no uncertain terms by Peter Chingoka, the ZC chairman, to reassert his authority over the MCA. The aggressive attitude of the new board has led to some bitter discussions and casued further unease within Zimbabwe cricket at a time the board are keen to be seen as united.